Saturday night at Willow Creek

We figured if we were coming all the way to Chicago, we might as well stay for church at Willow Creek. Tammy and I are siiting in the church getting ready for their Saturday night service. They are celebrating Father's Day pretty big. They've go a huge car show tomorrow that includes 100's of custom vehicles. It should be fun. I wish we could stay for it. TRF had some custom cars on the property last year and they were beautiful. Of course Willow had to one up us. They've got the custom cars, but they also have this...



That is a $400,000 Ford GT. It's pretty cool. Anyway Tammy and I got to spend last night in downtown Chicago. I'll talk more about it later, but here is a great pic from our hotel room...

Last Session

This is ending way too soon. Tom, Ron and I were blessed to be able to go to Dallas last year for an amazing leaders conference and it changed me in amazing ways. That does not begin to describe what God is doing here in me right now. Tammy just asked what was the thing I got out of it. My answer is that it is time to start from scratch again. God is in the job of building and changing. This time here has been a time of self evaluation that has led me to believe that there is so much stuff in my life that is hindering who God has created and called me to be. It is time to knock down the old and let God build the new. I don't know what that means or how this looks, but it is not my job to decide that.

We ended today with a presentation of "Scribble". It was a Drama/Dance performed by the Arts team at Mosaic in Southern Cal. Erwin McManus then took the time to challenge us with the reality of what we had just experienced. I saw Ermin at the leaders conference last year, but this time it felt like he was home and with peers and there was some incredible wisdom. Here are some of things I am taking with me...

"Our live are intended to be extraordinary, but are lived in the ordinary and mundane"

"Solomon was wrong - 'Nothing New Under the Sun'...See Isaiah 43:18-19"

"When we live with our own sight,, everything eventually becomes standardized. When we live through God's eyes, everything is new and alive."

"We keep waiting for someone else to create the environment by which we engage the world."

WRONG QUESTION - What kind of church do we need to be?
RIGHT QUESTION - What kind of future does our church want to create?

Day 3 - Arts Conference

This is the 3rd day of the conference and we had our 4th main session today. It was an incredible time of reflecting on our ministry work and the difficulty to be honest in it. We often approach ministry with justification and we make it religious and legalistic. in doing this, the danger can be as we face pain and struggle it is a contradiction to what we think our lives are supposed to be. we were reminded to "Praise Him in the Storm".

Music: Willow Creek Worship Team. Very Powerful worship today!

Speaker - Donald Miler
Donald is the author of "Blue Like Jazz". Pastor Tom has mentioned this a book couple times at TRF. What a gifted prophet of the Gospel of Jesus. I don't say that often, but I am convinced of God's hand on Him. He willingly and passionately extended that gift to us through His words of wisdom. Here are some things I am taking home with me...

"To be human is special, profound a miracle!"

"We don't like mystery. we want to come to conclusions logically. God is a mystery."

"Justification of a decision is the not the same we came to the decision"

"Truth and meaning go together"

God's reality is bigger than any word can describe. To say we can describe God with words is arrogant and assumes that truth can actually be encompassed within our heads."

"Are we trying to get heaven into our head or our head into heaven?"

"Our relationship with God has to stay relational or it becomes rational. we have to realize that there is no rationalizing God's truth. He is truth...period!"

Some Pics from the Conference

These are just general pics of Willow Creek. I posted a few yesterday of the Auditorium. these are of the bookstore, one of the numerous lounge areas, A small part of the Foyer, the coffee bar, the Water Wall, The Food Court we ate in and the view of their lake from the food court. this place is pretty crazy...

Guest Blogger:Tammy Hodge

I have many fears in life.... I fear that while dining with my husband in a
public restaurant he may leave to use the restroom and leave me stranded,
eating alone, oh my - how awkward! I fear ants - I know! I fear sending my
son to camp knowing he packed his suitcase without my help or guidance. I
also have a fear of flying. No, actually, I have a fear of crashing.... My
husband and I flew into Chicago last night for The Willow Creeks Arts
Conference. The flight was fairly uneventful. The Lord and I did manage to
get our plane through a terrible storm - ok, so I was praying real hard when
the Pilot came on and demanded his flight attendants sit and buckle up for
safety! Do they have to announce that over the loud speaker? Come on!!! I
asked God, like one would ask a parent of disorderly children, to get His
clouds under control. The landing was successful, obviously, the baggage
retrieval system was incredible and the speed at which the Rental Car
shuttle Bus arrived was like nothing I've ever witnessed before! Our courtesy driver, who remained nameless through our journey, quickly observed two, helpless out of towners and picked us up within seconds to shuttle us to our rental agency. I now have a new fear to add to my pathetically growing list - I fear a nameless, relentless, lead footed, possibly blind in the left eye, clearly nothing more to live for crazy Shuttle Bus Driver! Brent and I were the first victims to board our demise. As he spotted other helpless folk I was working so hard from my seat to will to them through the window not to board - "Save yourselves!!!" As we drove through the airport I quickly realized stop signs are clearly for decorative purposes. Oh - and marked lanes? Who cares! Did you know the shoulder of the road is actually the passing lane? He was passing invisible cars for 4 miles! When we got into to town he calmed down a bit - but not before nearly clipping a Retirement Shuttle Van who apparently was in the wrong place, an actual lane! All this and more, but he did get us safely to our destination. Safely physically - emotionally, I am spent and in need of major counseling!

Session #3

This session started with the Willow Creek Worship team playing a great instrumental. We then took some time to hear some stories from attenders regarding "disasters" that have taken place in worship services. Very funny.

Speaker: Dan Kimball
Panel of People: Dan Kimball, Nancy Beach, David Loveless, Brian McClaren, Sally Morgenthaler, Efrem Smith, Shauna Niequist

This session focused on Dan's new book "They love Jesus, but not the Church". He spoke about culture today regarding their view of Christianity and Christians. He spoke to how Christians are living in a bubble that keeps us safe, but does not engage with today's culture. Today's culture does not really know the church, or Jesus for that matter. the session ended with the panel discussing Culture, Ethnicity and how it all works into the churches "mission".

Here are some things I will take home with me...

"we've created our own Christian subculture"

"Are we so isolated in our bubble that we cannot see the worlds perspective?"

"Good News - The world is interested in Jesus...Bad News - The world is not interested in the church."

""I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" - Ghandi

"No problem can be solved by the level of thinking that created it"

John 17:15

Art Conference Info...

So here are some of the stats from the conference...

Over 5000 in attendance
All 50 states represented
21 Countries represented

Wow!

Here are some pics of the Worship Center. It is surprisingly small even though it is huge. The sound is amazing and loud. I love it!. Lighting is beautiful. The video is projected by 2 HD Jumbotron screens!

Art Conference Session #1 & #2

WOW! that's all I have to say. When you come to a conference of this caliber. You expect it to be powerful, but there has been so much more than that. I came asking God to show me knew things for His sake. He has torn a hole into me in many ways and this is just the first half of the first day. I will blog more in detail in the future, but here are some highlights.

Session #1
Music: David Crowder
What a performer and you can tell He is worshiping 100%. the band was great. We did his famous version of "I Saw The Light". Banjo and all! What a gift from God.

Speaker: Dewitt Jones
A renowned photographer that has dedicated his life to being Passionate about what he does. He is on fire to live in the beautiful life God has created for us. Here are some of the quotes that I am taking with me...

"The best way to give ourselves to God is to give ourselves to others"

"You can either do what you love or love what you do"

"Don't be worried about making a difference, just be passionatte about making a contribution"

Session #2
Music: Willow Creek Worship Team.
They wow'd us with an amazing 10 minute version of "Diversity" by Toby Mac. Percussion solos, Amazing vocals and Break Dancing! Yes break dancing...it was awesome. We also ended the session with "This Is My father's World". Great hymn...powerful moment!

Speaker: Nancy Beach
Nancy is living her life to see others come to Jesus. She focused on finding hope in the midst of chaos and confusion. She was delibeerate in showing us how we as the church are not reaching into the community. She was right on. Here are some of the things she said that I am taking home...

"We need to live in the contradiction of hurt and hope"

"It is not enough to be people of hope. We have to extend that hope to others"

"Who am I intentionally building a relationship with that has nothing to do with the church???"